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Thursday, December 1, 2011

Gluten-Free Gingerbread Cut-Out Cookie Recipe

Or shall I call them Gingerbread Hazelnut Cookies since they are made primarily with hazelnut flour? Our children have so much fun cutting out and decorating these lovely gluten-free Christmas cookies! Just look at that photo, what is not to love? I am sharing this recipe as part of a wonderful blogging event called Home for the Holidays....Gluten-Free Style hosted by Shirley from gluten-free easily! Twenty-four bloggers were asked to create and share recipes that meant both home and holidays to them. In addition to the recipes, we’ll also be hosting giveaways of the resources you value the most....cookbooks, resource books, apps, and the grand prize, a Vita-Mix!

You can view yesterday's post from Heidi at Adventures of a Gluten-Free Mom. She shared her Gluten-Free Fritter recipe. Tomorrow Sunny from And Love it Too will be sharing a holiday recipe. So be sure to go check their sites as well.

For me, Home for the Holidays takes me back to baking gingerbread and sugar cookies with my mother. My brothers and I would decorate dozens of cookies with beautiful colored sprinkles and bright white icing. I wanted to share that experience with my own children, only with a healthier, gluten-free version, and thus this recipe was born (actually the recipe came to me in a flash one night). It uses coconut sugar as the main sweetener, along with a powdered coconut sugar icing. Although coconut sugar is definitely a low-glycemic sweetener, it is still sugar, and these cookies are to be considered a sweet treat.

Gingerbread Hazelnut Cut-Out Cookies

I use Bob's Red Mill Hazelnut Meal Flour. It works beautifully in baking. You can check your local health food store for it or buy it on Amazon.com. If you don't want to use coconut sugar or don't have access to it, Sucanat (whole cane sugar) is a good substitute. It still has all of its nutrients intact like coconut sugar, but has a higher glycemic index. For a dairy-free option, use Earth Balance or Coconut Oil in place of the butter (note that I have not tested the recipe this way though). Use currents, raisins, sliced almonds, natural sprinkles (from Let's Do Organic!), or anything else you can imagine to decorate them. I find the dough is best if it is refrigerated overnight. You can make the dough after your children are in bed and then bake the cookies with them in the morning.

Dry Ingredients:2 cups hazelnut meal flour

1 cup sweet rice flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Wet Ingredients:

1 cup coconut sugar

1/2 cup softened organic butter

1/4 cup blackstrap molasses

1 large organic egg

2 teaspoons vanilla

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In a separate, smaller bowl beat with an electric mixer (or vigorously whisk) together the wet ingredients. Add the wet to the dry and mix together. Form into a ball, cover, and place into the refrigerator for a couple of hours or overnight.

When the dough is firm and chilled, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place a large piece of parchment or waxed paper down onto a clean, flat work surface. Lightly flour the paper with sweet rice flour. Take part of the dough and roll it out to a little less than 1/4 inch of thickness. Put the remaining dough back in the fridge to keep it chilled. Cut the dough out using your favorite holiday cookie cutters. Carefully peel away the dough around the cut-outs. Then take a thin spatula and lift the cookies onto a lightly greased cookie sheet.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes depending on how crisp you like them. A few more minutes of baking makes them crispy. Just watch them so they don't overcook. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool. Then repeat with remaining dough. Let cook completely before frosting.

Place powdered coconut sugar in a small bowl, whisk in the milk and vanilla. Use to ice cooled cookies. You might need to make more depending on how much icing you like on your cookies. Source: www.NourishingMeals.com

To enter to win one of these fabulous books, please leave a comment below. You can leave up to three comments by sharing this post on Facebook and Twitter. Come back and leave a comment saying you did, so we can count it. All of the comments you leave on this post and any other posts by other bloggers (see the full line-up here) will be entered into the Grand Prize Giveaways. The grand prize winners will be announced on Christmas. Note that you will have 48 hours only to leave a comment here and then I will announce the winners. You will need to have a Blogger account with an email attached to it so we can contact you or leave your email address in the comment like this: jane @ yahoo(dot)com. It only takes a second to set up a Blogger account (you do not need to use gmail to set one up). This is a good way if you feel uncomfortable leaving your email address in the comments. You can view my profile to see how I have my email as a link in my profile if you don't totally understand what I am saying. :)

This book is an awesome addition to any gluten-free, whole foods kitchen. It is filled with nutritious recipes that you will want to make over and over again! When I first opened it I literally wanted to bookmark every recipe. It is written by Hallie Klecker who blogs at Daily Bites. Her recipes are gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free.....and amazing.

This is a resource book you will want to have if you are dealing with gluten intolerances or Celiac disease. It covers all the myriad of diseases and symptoms associated with gluten as well as the difference between Celiac Disease and a gluten intolerance. This book was written by Seattle doctor, Stephan Wangen. You can check out his clinic, The IBS Treatment Center for more information.

I don't own this book (though it looks fabulous) so here is the description from Amazon: The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen makes cooking healthily both easy and delicious. This veritable volume is chock-full of more than 250 recipes, plenty of color illustrations, and advice on which foods are (or aren’t) okay when powdered, canned, or frozen. Lévana promises your new superfood diet will taste so good, you won’t ever go back.

This baking book is newly released! It was coauthored by my good friend and local Naturopathic doctor, Jean Layton. Not only is this a recipe book with over 150 recipes, but also a resource book on baking gluten-free. You'll find tips for stocking your kitchen, certain gluten-free baking methods for cakes, cookies, and breads, plus much more!

Please leave a comment to win one of these great books and to be entered into the Grand Prize Giveaway. Remember to include your email address or use your blogger account (with an email address linked in the account). Use your name or initials to distinguish yourself. Your comment will NOT be counted unless we have a way to contact you. Thanks for reading and for your support! :)

This giveaway ends on Saturday morning (12/3) at 7:00am PST. This giveaway is now CLOSED. Thanks everyone for participating. The winners will be sent an email notifying them. :)

About the Author

Alissa Segersten holds a Bachelor's of Science in Nutrition from Bastyr University. She is the founder of Whole Life Nutrition, the mother of five children, a whole foods cooking instructor, professional recipe developer, and cookbook author. She is passionate about helping others find a diet that will truly nourish them, and offers elimination diet recipes, healthy gluten-free recipes, paleo and vegan recipes, as well as tips for feeding your family a nourishing, whole foods diet. Alissa is the author of two very popular gluten-free, whole foods cookbooks and guidebooks: The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook and Nourishing Meals. She is also the co-author of The Elimination Diet book. Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram!

456 comments:

I can't wait to try this recipe. I love following you and am slowly switching to gluten free. Its been harder than I though. I just wish they sold the ingredients at costco. Thank you for all that you do.

We eliminated wheat from our diet several years ago and we stunned how much better we felt. In the past year though we started eating wheat again because we failed to plan ahead and now once again can feel the results. Time to make a change for life. Thanks for your inspiring blogging!

Ali,These cookies look fantastic! We have tried cut out cookies year after year with no success. Can't wait to make these! Your give-aways look like a lot of fun and a blessing! Thank you for all you do to help my family and so many others that I have shown your blog. You are a blessing!!Stephanie Moschelbmoschel@mwt.net

I am sooo excited to have found your site and this recipe. I've been dreading losing my favorite cookies at Christmas and now i won't miss them. I'll have these. I'm sharing this on FB so my other friends can see it to!

Ali,Thanks so much for this recipe. I've found that it's not the gluten, it's the wheat. And I've recently discovered the wonders of date sugar as a sweetener alternative that will chemically work in a cookie. Saw your technique for the powdered sugar but don't have a Vitamix - so pick me to win it! I've been racking my brain trying to figure out how am I going to powder that date sugar? I'm thinking I'll put it in a plastic bag and crush it with a rolling pin maybe. These cookies look yummy. Will definitely be trying them.

I have sucanat so I would love to try these. Would almond flour sub for the hazelnut flour? I have that on hand. I'd like to try it the right way too but sounds like fun to try right away. My son loves ginger cookies and so do I. . .and cut out cookies are one of the best memories of Christmas I think :)

I remember as a kid making gingerbread cookies and houses with my mom. I made them with my boys when they were little but have not gone back to them since being gluten and dairy free. I think we're going to have to give these a try. It just looks like so much fun to me.

Yummy! Maybe we'll try adding some hazelnut flour to the "old" gingerbread cookie recipe in your book since eggs and dairy are still on the off list for D. These sound soooo good though! Yes, gingerbread cookies are certainly one of those foods that bring back happy holiday memories!

Oh, how I enjoy receiving your timely email recipes! My husband just asked me this past week if I would be make Gingerbread cookies for the Holidays....now I guess am! - Not only do I have to omit the dairy, but eggs as well. Though I have no choice for myself, I also love making GF/DF/EG/SF goodies for my friends and family knowing I'm feeding them a bit "healthier" version of our old favorites (most don't even know it until I blab!), and now the Cocount Sugar...ooooo, I can't wait to try it! - Blessings to you WLNK, and Happy Holidays!

Gingerbread cookies. The VERY first recipe I made on my own, I love them. It's kind of funny too because I was just looking at your coconut powdered sugar recipe yesterday! OK, Laurel, egg & dairy replacers - forward ho!

I'm so grateful for all your amazing recipe posts and tips. I send my patients to your blog all the time when I'm shifting their diet off wheat and gluten. Thank you for all the passion, time, and energy you put into this site, and the generosity with which you share it. YAY!Dr. Tonia Winchester, ND, Nanaimo, BC, Canada http://www.arbourcentre.com

JUST what I was looking for! I love decorative cookies and it's such a hard thing to find with a gluten-free recipe. AND it's made with powdered coconut sugar, so a much lower glycemic index! Every year, my husband and I bake cookies and send them back to our friends and family back east (we're in San Francisco), and now I can send them pretty cookies that are better for them! Thank you so much!

Wonderful! I'm going home for school break in a week, and was hoping to hold a cookie decorating party. We'll see if my friends notice the difference!Thank you always for your effort in sharing these awesome recipes- they always seem to pop up just when I need them :)

Ali, your blog has been SO MUCH help to me since we started our journey of trying to find out what foods my son is allergic to. We used many of your recipes in our elimination diet, and now that he eats GF and LF I find myself checking your blog often for inspiration when I'm making my menus. THANKS!

This recipe looks amazing! I was just talking with a friend about trying to find a good Gingerbread recipe to try for the holidays :) Just out of curiosity is it possible to bake these cookies into large flat squares and use them to make gingerbread houses?

My daughter is going to love making these! We were both diagnosed earlier this year with celiac disease and I've been overwhelmed with what to bake in the way of treats and cookies and this is a nice healthier alternative.

the recipe looks divine. love this site anyway - i am always here....nice to see you participating in the giveaway project... came off the 28 day elimination diet about a week ago and it was and is a pretty amazing experience. staying gluten free and very low dairy. i love it. thank you.

I am new to the gluten-free world and my life has changed for good, I am not feeling sick anymore!! Your recipes and books have helped me a lot! Now I got the cookie cutters to prepare this recipe with my son, Thank you! Merry Christmas

Living gluten-free has been a challenged, but my body is really happy about it, I am not feeling sick! Now I got the cookie cutters to prepare the gingerbread cookies with my son! Thank you!! Merry Christmas!

I love your site and your cookbook! I have been following along for almost a year... since I've gone GF. You've not only made the transition easier but fun. I have never felt so good!!! I'm never going back. Can't wait to try the cut out cookies with my kids! : )

I love your recipes! I am not gluten/egg/dairy free but cook from your website multiple times per week and love the results!!!!! I love experimenting with new flours/grains. Thank you! Can't wait to try this recipe.Tomitsalami77@yahoo.com

These cookies look fantastic. I have one son who is gluten intolerant and now it looks like both his older and baby brothers are also showing signs of intolerance, so I am in the process of converting my whole family to gluten-free. My husband was lamenting about the lack of Christmas cookies last night...he will be thrilled when I show him this recipe!

I am looking forward to making these with my girls, ali! i love hazelnuts so am excited for that flavor - and i will let you know how they work with a dairy free butter substitute as i am now GF and dairy free (they definitely seem to be triggers for my migraines, sinus issues, etc). thanks for the great recipe!

I'm in love with your blog and I check it just about everyday to try new recipes and read about the information you post. I don't usually enter in the drawings but today is different I guess! Hope I win something so I can use it to cook for my family! Cheers :)

This looks really good, Ali. I'm sure your kids had a lot of fun decorating... I love using coconut sugar as a sweetener. And the hazelnut meal is a great idea -- it makes the recipe almost grain-free! ;-)

I posted earlier, but I'm adding another one because I shared on facebook, and also need to add my e-mail: dezihall@hotmail.com. Thanks again. Since finding out I am intolerant to a lot of food, I have looked to your site so much for food ideas and knowledge; it has made me enthusiastic about nutrition and cooking! It's pretty difficult being a young person surrounded by friends and family who do not understand food issues, but with the knowledge that is out there on the internet, people like us can live fairly functionally in a society based around wheat.

I love your blog and have become a more confident cook in part due to your recipes. Your ideas for substitutions and how to use what you have available fresh has made me more comfortable experimenting and overall enjoying the results! I also keep kosher and since most of your recipes are dairy-free, it is very easy for me to make things that I can have with a meat meal. Although not GF, your blog has been a great resource for me for healthy recipes. Thank you!

Welcome to my blog!

Hi! My name is Alissa Segersten and I've had a love of healthy food and cooking since the age of 10. I have my degree in Nutrition from Bastyr University and am the author of three {gluten-free} food and nutrition books. When I was pregnant with my first daughter in 2001, I diligently began writing down my recipes because so many people would ask for them! Some of these recipes appeared in my first book, The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook. I now have 5 children and am passionate about educating them about our food system so they can make the most informed choices as they grow up and are exposed to a world of processed, chemical-laden foods. Join me in my mission of helping to support families with nourishing meals! Read more about me here.